Reception Stations and Areas - A Key to Making a Great First Impression

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Getting off to the Best Start Possible

It takes just an instant, possibly a few quick seconds, for your visitors to evaluate your company when they enter your workplace for the first time. In this timeframe, the your guest forms a judgment about your company based on your corporate appearance, your company body language so to speak, your company style, your representations, and how your reception area is addressed.

With every new visit, you are appraised, and yet additional mental imprints of your company are formed. These first impressions can be virtually irreversible, making those initial visits exceptionally important, for they set the groundwork for all the interactions that follows.

It doesn’t matter if we are talking about your social life, your career, or a meeting in your office with a client, vendor, investor, or a new hire, it's ever so important to recognize how to create an amazing first impression. This article offers some helpful tools to get you do this better.

Be Timely

Someone you are meeting with in your office for the first time is not interested in what you have to say, they place more credence in what you show. This is as true in any relationship as it is in your business outward projections. Let your reception area show that you are not living in yesteryear. Create an impression that shows you are timely, innovative and fresh. Establishing a presence about your reception area that speaks to a today’s mindset will go a long way in “showing” you are timely.

Be Original and Create Ease

If you are following the crowd by what you show, it will certainly create the impression that you are just like every other company, with a different name on the door. Your reception area should reflect your company and the way you do things. Your reception area is an opportunity to show how you are different and not the same as the others.

Separately, your reception area is about your visitors and making them feel at ease. If your reception area is uncomfortable and on edge, this can make your guests ill at ease and that's a sure way to create the wrong impression. If your reception area shows itself as calm and confident, then your guest will feel more at ease, and so you have a solid foundation for making that first impression a great one.

Present Your Company Fittingly

Why of course aesthetics matters. The visitor you are meeting with in your workplace for the first time does not know you and your appearance is usually the first clue they have to evaluate you by.

Now this does not mean you need to have your reception area look like it is a showpiece out of a design magazine to give off a solid and confident first impression. (Unless you are a design firm.)

The best option for you to build a great impression is to present yourself fittingly to your company.

It’s been said many times and many ways a picture is worth a thousand words, and so the "picture" you first show says a lot about you to your reception guest. Is your company reflection speaking the right words to help create the perfect first impression?

Begin with the way you dress your company, so to speak. What is fitting for the company you are? In a business setting, what are the best business tools to present to show who you are and what you are about? Books, magazines, pictures, modern reception station and furniture? And ask yourself what you most want to project about your company and what tools will help you do that– if you are in advertising, let’s say; would modern trendy reception furniture show you to be out in front in today’s business?

For business between cultures, what projections will make your guests entering your reception area for the first time feel more at home? Make sure you know the ethnicities and customs.

How about your cleanliness and organization? A clean and organized appearance is always beneficial for most business environments. A tasteful, well-planned (with guests in mind) reception area that is clean, neat, and organized in a way that shows thought went into your visitor’s comfort will go a long way in impressing your guests.

Fitting company reception area grooming can help make a good first impression and also help you feel calm and confident about your company and what you have to offer. You don’t need to pull out your calculator to see this all adds up to creating an amazing first impression.

Something to be said about Individuality

To have your reception area impress your guests, you need not conform to standard looks and you don’t want to be so ridiculously odd that you distract from your message. The key is creating a balance between visitor compliance and establishing your own individuality. Don’t lose sight of the fact to make a good first impression you do need to "fit in" to a certain extent. However it all reverts back to being the best fit for the your company and your guests

A Smile for Bonus Points

"Smile and the world smiles too", is how the saying goes. There's nothing like a genuine smile from your receptionist when greeting your guests to create a warm welcome. A hart-warming and assured smile will put both you and your visitor at rest. So smiling is part of a game winning formula to great first impressions.

Your Entryway Needs to Reflect an Air of Confidence

When planning to make a first impression, your entryway is the body language of your company; its statement will speak much louder than any words you can conjure.

Use your company’s body language to speak confidently and with assurance what you wish to say. In essence, by design, stand tall, look them in the eye and give them an air of confidence that they won’t forget. This will help you send a message by what you show that will encourage both you and the other person to feel more at ease.

Most people get a little uneasy when meeting with someone for the first time, be it a client, vendor or investor which can lead to nervous habits. By having a confident environment, you can feed off the energy you have created in advance.

Create Courteous and Attentive Environment

In the physical world, no one has to say it, good manners and polite, attentive and courteous behavior always helps when it comes to making good first impressions. In much the same way planning your reception environment around your visitors comfort and attention will go a long way to having your guests remember you for being the impressive company you are. In fact, anything less can ruin the one chance you have at making that first impression.

Standout Points to Remember

You get just a few seconds to make that first impression memorable, and it's almost impossible to alter that memory after the fact. So it's worth giving your first meeting the best chance possible. Most of what you need to do, design and create in your reception area to make an impression memorable is found in good common sense. However, despite most actions to the contrary, with a little extra thoughtfulness and quality planning, you can zero in on your own instinctive style and make every first impression not just good but rather, amazing.

Much of the details surrounding getting your reception area to reflect the image your company needs to show can acquired simply by making a phone call now to: 855-699-0334